Introducing...

Adriana Leigh Herman

I was frustrated last week.  My pre-labor signs had all but disappeared.  I was convinced that my body wouldn't know what to do, and I would need to be induced.  I really did not want to be induced!

On Saturday, September 10, I met Brandon, Connor, Quentin, and Zeke in Muncie for the day.  I remembered my mom telling me that when she was pregnant with me, Brandon used to go up to her and say, "come out, Baby."  I figured that maybe my baby just needed a kid to tell it to come out.  I asked Zeke if he wanted my baby to come out.  He said he did, so I said he needed to tell the baby that.  All day, Zeke kept yelling at my stomach, "come out, Baby!  I want to play with you."  But, still nothing happened at all on Saturday.  I went to bed Saturday night praying that the baby would come on its own, and I wouldn't have to be induced.

On Sunday, I woke up around 6:30 in the morning.  I went to the bathroom and saw blood.  It was bright red, so of course, I called the doctor.  I actually had to talk to a nurse because the doctor was in the middle of a C-Section.  She asked me if I was having any contractions.  I told her my back was hurting a little sometimes and it hadn't really hurt throughout my entire pregnancy.  I knew that could be back labor.  She talked to the doctor and then told me that he wanted me to come into the hospital so he could check me out.

By this time, it was 7:30.  I went to get Scott, and I told him we needed to go.  He said, "to the hospital?"  He showered quickly, and then we took off.

We got to the hospital and we were put in a (tiny) triage room.  A nurse checked me, and told me that I was dilated 2 cm and 50% effaced.  STILL!  According to the monitors, I was having contractions, but they weren't rhythmic.  She asked if I wanted anything for the pain.  I said no.  When she left, I told Scott, "she's not supposed to offer me pain meds.  It says that in  my birth plan."  I figured she probably just hadn't read it because I had just gotten there.  When she came back in, she said, "are you going natural?"  I said I was.  She said, "as in, you don't want to be offered pain medication?"  I said that was correct.  I was never offered anything else.  Dr. Moore came in and told me that they would monitor me for awhile.  Since I wasn't yet to 40 weeks, they wouldn't do anything to cause me to go into labor, so I had to show them I was in labor.  The nurse told me to go walk around for awhile.  She said that if I was in labor, walking around would help it to progress.

On my walk, I started having really bad contractions.  I would have to stop walking when I was having one.  And they were definitely in my back.  OW!!  I texted my mom (I had already called her to tell her I was going in) and told her they really hurt.  She said that she and my dad were on their way.  Scott called his mom, and she said they would be up in a little while.  When I went back to triage, the nurse checked me and said I had dilated to 3 cm.  She said Dr. Moore had to be the one to decide if I should be admitted or not.  Being in such a small room while we waited was very uncomfortable.  Dr. Moore finally came in at 12:30 and said that I was in labor and that I should go to a labor and delivery room.

We got to the labor and delivery room, and I was hooked up to monitors and a saline well.  Because of my Group B Strep, I needed to have two rounds of antibiotics during delivery.  Dr. Moore didn't want to risk any allergic reactions, so I had Keflex (sp.?) instead of Penicillin.  I got the first round as soon as I was in the new room.  My contractions started to get closer together (but still not rhythmic) and more intense.  The nurse told me that it was typical to dilate 1 cm per hour, so I could kind of have an idea of how long this would last.  I tried many different positions to get as comfortable as possible.  For awhile, it worked pretty well to sit on a birthing ball and lean over the bed.  Scott would hold my hand and allow me to squeeze it when I had a contraction.  But the worst part was the back labor.  One of the nurses started to rub my back through each contraction, but she couldn't stay and do that the whole time because she was getting medical things ready and monitoring other things.  So, Scott started rubbing my back.  But then I lost my focal point and my hand to squeeze.  So frustrating!

At about 1:30, Mom came into the room to let me know they were there and see how I was doing.  I had planned on it just being Scott and me in the labor and delivery room, but with Mom there, I was able to have a focal point, a person to hold my hand, and a person to rub my back.  Mom stayed.  I think she left twice, but otherwise, she was there through all of the contractions.  I'm sure it was the most fun she's ever had.

At 3:30, I asked the nurse to check me again so I could see my progression.  I needed to hear some good news.  I didn't get it.  I was dilated to about 4 cm.  It had taken me 3 hours to dilate 1 cm!  I was so frustrated.  I looked at Scott and said, "this is going to take 15 more hours...or more."  A little while after that, I said to my mom, "I think I want it."  She said, "the baby?  I know you do...it's coming."  I said, "no...the e-word."  Mom said, "I don't think you do."  I said, "I can't do this.  It's going to take forever."  She said, "you have always wanted to do this without any medication.  You have already come this far, and you're doing a great job.  If you give in now, I think you'll always regret it."  The nurse told me one thing that would help would be if I could relax more during the contractions.  From then on, Mom or Scott helped me with relaxation.  If my legs started to tense up, they would hold them down.  If my shoulders tensed, they would rub them.

It worked!  At around 6:30, I started to feel like I needed to push, so they checked me.  I was 9 cm dilated!  5 more cm in only 3 hours.  It was close!  But...my water hadn't broken yet.  A little before 7:00, Dr. Moore came in.  He said he didn't want to break my water because that makes things a LOT more intense, and he didn't want me to have that intensity come on too suddenly.  He also told me it was about time for him to go home, and Dr. Bradley would be coming in.  I had only met Dr. Bradley once, but she seemed nice.  The nurses told me she was wonderful with delivery.

Dr. Bradley came in to see me during a contraction.  At this point, they were back to back.  The urge to push was extreme!  Dr. Bradley asked me how I felt about breaking my water.  I said, "doesn't that make things a lot worse?"  She said, "I don't think it gets much worse than what you're dealing with right now.  It will help you to progress to 10 cm instead of just staying at 9 and not being able to push."  I said it was fine to break the water, so she did.  After a couple of more contractions, she checked me.  I was 10 cm!  I could push!

Mom left, and Dr. Bradley gave me some instructions on pushing.  She said I should be able to get about three pushes per contraction.  Scott encouraged me the whole time, which turned out to be about an hour.  They brought in a mirror so I could see the baby being born.  They said it would also be good motivation once I started to be able to see the baby coming out.  I had to not push through a couple of contractions because the baby's heart rate was a little low and they wanted to get it stabilized by giving the baby a break.  I also had to use oxygen so the baby would get enough oxygen.

After a little while, I could see the baby's hair.  I thought for sure I was close, so I asked the nurse how many more pushes she thought I had.  She said, "Oh...not too many."  I pushed through a few more contractions, and then the nurse told me, "I can tell you now that it should be two or three more."  I said, "pushes?"  She said, "contractions."  Oh well.

She was right.  I forget exactly how many more pushes there were, but I know it wasn't too much longer.  It was all kind of a blur at that point.  I saw the baby's head come out, and I saw Dr. Bradley remove the cord from around its neck.  (They later said that was why the heart rate had gone down some, but they also said it's more common than you think to have the cord wrapped around the baby's neck.)  I honestly didn't feel anything else after that.  I saw the baby's body come out, and they brought the baby up to me to let me hold it.  Scott kept saying, "you did it!  We have a baby!"  I remember holding the baby and seeing lots of hair.  I was trying to bundle it up so it wouldn't be cold.  Scott cut the cord.  Scott and I were both kissing the baby.  And then someone said the words we'd been waiting 9 months to hear (but had completely forgotten about once we had our baby in our arms:  It's a girl!

After we had some time to bond with our daughter, one of the nurses said she was dying to weigh the baby because she was so little.  I said she could take her.  It turns out she weighed 6 lb 13 oz and was 20 inches long.  As they cleaned her up, they asked us her name.  I said, "Adriana Leigh."  Then I looked at Scott and said, "we are still going with that, right?"  He nodded.  Then he sent a text to my mom so she could tell everyone that we had a girl.  We made them wait to hear the name and stats though.

When they were done cleaning Adriana up, they brought her back to me to hold her.  Then Scott sent a text saying that everyone could come back.  Pretty soon, my mom and dad and Scott's mom and dad were there to meet their new granddaughter.  They all took turns holding her.

When they left, the nurses said I should try to feed Adriana.  She was a good eater right away, which made me so happy!  Once she had eaten, Scott held Adriana and I went to sleep for a little bit.  I was exhausted!  My blood pressure was low, so I had to stay in the labor and delivery room until it came back up.  They gave me some fluids through my IV, and the nurse went to get me some food.  My blood pressure came up shortly after that, and we were moved to our hospital room with our new baby girl.